ALDEHYDES AND KETONE

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ALDEHYDES AND KETONES

In aldehydes, the carbonyl group is linked to either two hydrogen atom or one hydrogen
atom and one carbon containing group such as alkyl, aryl or aralkyl group Examples
*

In ketones, the carbonyl group is linked to two carbon containing groups which may be
same or different alkyl, aryl group. If two R and R groups are same, the ketone is called
simple or symmetrical ketone and if R and R are different, then ketone is known as mixed
or an unsymmetrical ketone.

STRUCTURE
Carbonyl carbon of both aldehyde and ketones is sp2 hybridised, One of the three sp2
hybridised orbital get involved in - bond formation with half filled p-orbital of oxygen
atom whereas rest of the two are consumed in -bond formation with hydrogen and carbon
depending on the structure of aldehyde or ketone.
Unhybridised p-orbital of carbonyl carbon form -bond with another half-filled p-orbital of
oxygen atom by sideways overlapping.

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ISOMERISM IN ALDEHYDES AND KETONES

(a) Chain isomerism: Aldehydes ( with 4 or more carbon atoms) and ketone ( with 5 or more
carbon atoms) show chain isomerism. Example
i)
C4H8O
CH3-CH2-CH2-CHO ( butanal)

ii)

C5H10O

(b) Position isomerism: aliphatic aldehydes do not show position isomerism, because CHO
group is always present at the end of carbon chain.
Aromatic aldehyde show position isomerism. Example
(c) Metamerism: Higher ketones show metamerism due to presence of different alkyl
groups attached to the same functional group
C5H10O

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(d) Functional isomerism : Aldehydes and ketones show functional isomerism in them. In
addition, they are also related to alcohols, ethers and other cyclic compounds. Example
C3H6O

(e) Tautomerism : Aldehydes and ketones also show tautomerism

(I)
C2H4O

(II)

C3H6O

GENERAL METHODS OF PREPARATION OF ALDEHYDES AND KETONES

1. From alcohol
(i)
Oxidation of alcohol

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Since the oxidizing agent used in the above reactions is a strong oxidizing agent, it oxidizes
aldehydes and ketone further to carboxylic acids
To prevent further oxidation, a mild oxidizing agent such as pyridinium chlorochromate
(pcc), CrO3.C5H5NHCl or CrO3NH+CrO3Cl- are used Collins reagent [ (C5H5N)2 CrO3] can also
used.

(ii)

Catalytic dehydrogenation of alcohols

2. From alkenes
(i)
Reductive ozonolysis of alkenes.

(ii)

Wacker process.

ALDEHYDES AND KETONE

(iii)

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OXO process [Carbonylation / Hydroformylation]

3. From alkynes

4. From Grignard reagent

(1) By addition to ester

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(iii)

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By addition to nitriles

5. From carboxylic acids

(i)
Catalytic decomposition of carboxylic acid.

(ii)

From calcium salt of carboxylic acids

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6. From derivatives of carboxylic acids

(i)
Reduction of acid chlorides ( Rosenmunds reaction)

Above reaction is known as Rosenmunds reduction and is applicable for preparation of

aldehydes
BaSO4, sulphur act as poison for Pd catalyst and prevents reduction of RCHO into RCH2OH
(ii)
Reduction of acid chloride with dialkyl cadmium.

Reduction of acid chloride into ester can also be carried out by lithium tri-t-butoxy
aluminium hydride, LiAlH[OC(CH3)3]3

(iii)

Reduction of esters

7. From gem-dihalides by hydrolysis

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8. From nitriles by reduction

(i)
Stephens reduction.

(ii)

Reduction with LiAlH4

9. Preparation of aromatic carbonyl compounds.

(i)

This is known as etard reaction

(ii)
By side chain chlorination followed by hydrolysis

ALDEHYDES AND KETONE

(iii)

Gatterman Koch reaction

(iv)

Friedel Craft Acylation

(v)

Reimer Tiemann reaction

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PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ALDEHYDES AND KETONE

1. Physical state
Lower members of aldehydes and ketones (upto C10) are colourless volatile liquids except
formaldehyde which is gas at ordinary temperature
Higher members of aldehyde and ketones are solids with fruity odour
Lower aldehydes have unplesent odour but ketones posses pleasant smell
2. Boiling point
Boiling point of aldehyde and ketones is slightly lower than corresponding alcohol due to
lack of hydrogen bonding. However their boiling point is slightly higher than that of
corresponding non-polar hydrocarbon or weakly polar ether. This may attributed to reason
that aldehydes and ketones are polar compounds and thus possess intermolecular dipoledipole interaction

Among isomeric aldehydes and ketones, boiling point of ketones is slightly higher than that
of aldehydes due to the presence of two electron donating alkyl groups making them more
polar.
3. Solubility
Lower members of aldehydes and ketones ( upto C4) are soluble in water due to H-bonding
between polar carbonyl group and water.
However, solubility decreases with increase in molecular weight
Aromatic aldehydes and ketones are much less soluble than corresponding aliphatic
aldehydes and ketones due to large benzene ring. However all carbonyl compounds are
fairly soluble in organic solvents.

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RELATIVE REACTIVITY OF ALDEHYDES AND KETONES

Aldehydes are more reactive than ketones on account of the following facts:
(a) Aliphatic aldehydes and ketones
(i)
Inductive effect:
The reactivity of the carbonyl group towards the addition reaction depends upon the
magnitude of the positive charge on the carbonyl carbon atom. Hence, any
substituent that increases the positive charge on the carbonyl carbon must increase
its reactivity towards addition reactions. The introduction of negative group ( -I
effect) increases the reactivity, while introduction of alkyl group (+I effect) decreases
the reactivity, therefore, greater the number of alkyl groups attached to the carbonyl
group and hence, lower is its reactivity towards nucleophilic addition reactions. Thus,
the following decreasing order of reactivity is observed

(ii)
Steric effect
In formaldehyde there is no alkyl group while in all other aldehyde there is one alkyl group
so here the nucleophile attack is relatively more easy but in ketones there are two alkyl
groups attached to carbonyl group and these causes hinderance, to the attacking group.
This factor is called steric hinderance (crowding). In other words the hindrance increases,
the reactivity decreases accordingly. Thus order of reactivity is

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(b) Aromatic aldehydes and ketones

In general, aromatic aldehydes and ketones are less reactive than the corresponding
aliphatic aldehydes and ketones. It is due electron releasing resonance effect of bezene eing

Due to electron releasing resonance effect (+R effect) of benzene ring, the magnitude of
positive charge on carbonyl group decreases and consequently it becomes less susceptible
to nucleophilic attack.

The order of reactivity of aromatic aldehydes and ketones is

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CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF ALDEHYDES AND KETONES

Nucleophilic addition reaction

In this reaction carbon atom of carbonyl group changes from sp2 to sp3 hybridised
(i)
Addition of hydrogen cyanide (HCN)

Mechanism
Step I : The hydrogen cyanide interacts with the base to form nucleophile

Step II : The nucleophile attacks the carbonyl carbon to form an anion

StepIII: The proton from the solvent (usually water) combines with the anion to form
cyanohydrine.

Cyanohydrins are formed by all aldehydes but in ketones, only acetone, butanone, 3pethenone and pinacolone form cyanohydrins.

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ALDEHYDES AND KETONE

(ii)

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Addition of sodium bisulphate (NaHSO4)

All ketones do not undergo this reaction only methyl ketone form addition product with
sodium bisulphate
On reacting the crystalline solid bisulphate derivative with dilute HCl or alkali, these adducts
decompose to regenerate the original aldehyde or ketones. Hence, this reaction is used in
the separation and purification of aldehydes and ketones from non-carbonyl compounds.

(iii)

Addition of Grignard reagent

Formaldehyde form a primary alcohol

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Higher aldehydes give secondary alcohol

Ketone give tertiary alcohols

(iv)

Addition of alcohols

Dry HCl protonates the oxygen atom of the carbonyl compounds and therefore, increases the
electrophilicity of the carbonyl carbon and hence facilitating the nucleophilic attack by the alcohol
molecule. Dry HCl gas also absorbs the water produced in these reactions and thereby shifting
equilibrium in forward direction.
Ketals can be prepared by treating the ketone with ethyl ortho formate

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(v)

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Addition of ammonia derivative

Z = OH, NH2 , NHC6H5 , NHCOCH2 etc.

The reaction of ammonia derivatives to aldehydes and ketones is called by acids
Mechanism
Step I: In acidic medium, the carbonyl oxygen gets protonated.

Step II : In ammonia derivatives, the nitrogen atom has a lone pair of electrons, which attack the
positively charged carbonyl carbon and results in positive charge on nitrogen atom

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Step III : The unstable intermediate loses a proton, H+ and water molecule to form stable product
(imines)

(vi)

Addition of alkynes

This reaction is also known as ethinylation

2. Reduction reactions
I.

Catalytic reduction to alcohol

II.

Clemmensen reduction

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ALDEHYDES AND KETONE

III.

Wolf-Kishner reduction

IV.

Reduction with HI + P (red)

V.

Reduction to pinacols

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3. Oxidation reactions
i.

Oxidation with mild oxidizing agents

Ketones are not oxidized by mild oxidizing agents

(a) Aldehydes reduces Tollens reagent to metallic silver which appears as a silver mirror on
wall of test tube. Thus the reaction is also known as silver mirror test.

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(b) Reduction of Fehlings solution

Fehlings solution is an alkaline solution of CuSO4 mixed with Rochelle slat i.e. sodium
potassium tartarate. Aldehydes reduces cupric ion (Cu2+) of Fehlings solution to cuprous
ions (Cu+) to form red precipitate of cuprous oxide

ii.

Fehlings solution is reduced by aliphatic aldehydes only. Aromatic aldehydes and ketones
so not give this reaction.
Oxidation with strong oxidizing agent

iii.

Haloform reaction

4. Condensation reactions
(1) Aldol condensation

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Mechanism

Aldehyde or ketones which do not contain -hydrogen atom like formaldehyde (HCHO),
benzaldehyde (C6H5CHO) and benzophenone (C6H5COC6H5) do not undergo aldol
condensation.

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(2) Cross aldol condensation

# A- A Condensation

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# B-B Condensation

# A-B Condensation

# B-A Condensation

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(3) Claisen Schmidt condensation

5. Cannizzaro reaction

Mechanism
Step I : The OH- ion attacks the carbonyl carbon to form hydroxyl alkoxide

Step II : Anion (I) acts as hybride ion donor to the second molecule of aldehyde. In the
final step of the reaction, the acid and the alkoxide ion transfer H+ to acquire stability.

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6. Reaction with chloroform

Chloretone is used as hypnotic.

7. Reaction with primary amine

8. Electrophilic substitution reaction of aromatic carbonyl compounds

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USES OF ALDEHYDES AND KETONES

(a) Uses of formaldehyde
i.
The 40% solution of formaldehyde in water ( formaline) is used as disinfectant,
germicide and antiseptic. It is used for the preservation of biological
specimens
ii.
It is used for silvering of mirrors
iii.
It is used for making synthetic plastics, like Bakelite, urea- formaldehyde resin
etc
(b) Uses of acetaldehyde
i.
It is used in preparation of acetic acid, dyes, drugs, etc
ii.
As an antiseptic inhalant in nose troubles
(c) Uses of benzaldehyde
i.
As flavouring agent in perfume industry
ii.
In manufacture of dyes.
(d) Uses of acetone
i.
As a solvent for cellulose acetate, resin etc.
ii.
As a nailpolish remover
iii.
In the preparation of an artificial scent and synthetic rubber

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